Gold Coast traffic: Incumbent Gold Coast Mayor backs campaign to fix city’s roads and footpaths

Congestion will cost Gold Coasters nearly $1 billion unless something is urgently done to fix the city’s problem roads.

GOLD Coasters, tell us what needs to be fixed.

With this year’s council election now officially underway, The Bulletin is putting out a call to Gold Coast residents to name the road and footpath upgrades which urgent need work to help ease our growing frustration with traffic congestion and road maintenance.

Griffith University transport expert Associate Professor Matthew Burke said the Glitter Strip’s road network was struggling as the city’s population continues to grow, and with the population expected to hit one million within 20 years road it was only going to get worse.

Yalwalpah Road at Pimpama during morning peak hour just off the M1.

“We know what lines within the transport grid tend to clog up each morning and afternoon,” he said.

“We have a large number of people making longer journeys who are in the poorer suburbs and have a disproportionate longer travel time because they can’t afford to live in Burleigh or Isle of Capri.”

The Infrastructure Australia Urban Transport Crowding and Congestion report released last year predicted road congestion costs would quadruple by 2031, taking $973 million out of the pockets of Gold Coast motorists as they sit in gridlock.

The worst of it will be on the Pacific Motorway, where delays will cost Coast commuters $1.2 million a day.

Incumbent Mayor Tom Tate, who is running for re-election at next month’s council poll, backed the Bulletin’s call and said he would welcome all proposed road projects.

He vowed to dramatically increase council’s road spending to get the works fast-tracked.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate is backing the Bulletin’s congestion busting campaign. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

“If re-elected, I will collate these into a citywide spreadsheet and ask Council to find immediate solutions to the issues identified by locals,’’ he said.

“My call-to-action will ask every motorist, and resident, to name their local bottleneck or traffic issue.’’

Cr Tate said if re-elected, he would present the local action report to all incoming councillors, and to one of the first full council meetings following the March 28 election.

“It would be wonderful to get people engaged and with the help of locals we can do this. It is not just a case of doing consultation when the decision has already been made -I will go on record and say these projects which people bring up will be included,” he said.

Artist impressions of the Gold Coast City Council's Isle of Capri Bridge duplication. Source: Gold Coast City Council

“This will be a cost-effective investment in pinch-point management which will improve the reliability of the road network.”

The Gold Coast City Council mid-last year voted to approve its 2031 transport strategy’s midlife review which includes a list of more than 41 projects which will be funded and built by the council and state by 2023 at a cost of $544 million.

Among the biggest projects are the $34 million upgrade of Sundale Bridge, the $34 million new bridge to Surfers Paradise as part of the Isle of Capri decongestion project and widening of Pimpama’s Yawalpah Road.

Artist impressions of Sundale bridge upgrade on the Gold Coast.

There are also 13 major intersection upgrades planned as well as footpaths and green bridges, including a new connection between Chevron Island and Surfers Paradise.

Associate Professor Burke said an increased focus on public transport and interconnected infrastructure such as green bridges would help alleviate some of the stresses on the road network.

“The Gold Coast is a city which has grown up around the car and that was fine up until the population grew beyond 500,000,” he said.

“Now we are living with the legacy of past leaders not investing in public transport but this has thankfully changed in recent years

Heavy traffic on Sundale Bridge. Picture: Michael Saunders

“What we really lack is the public transport infrastructure that other cities of similar sizes have.”

Some of the Gold Coast’s mayoral candidates have proposed ways of minimising the stress on the city's roads.

Cr Tate has called for an investigation into automated driverless buses similar to those being trialled in Redland as possible east-west connection between the light and heavy rails.

Mayoral candidate Mona Hecke has also talked up improving road infrastructure and recently proposed decentralising the council’s headquarters to three locations - Southport, Coomera and Robina in a bid to take cars off the roads.

The Green Bridge at Evandale opened earlier this month. Picture Glenn Hampson

“It is really important we start looking at how people (will) use the Coomera Connector and the M1 – a lot of people in those inter-regional areas use (the M1) to hop on and off to get between suburbs,” she told a UDIA mayoral forum.

“We need to make sure those transport corridors are better planned so they are not congesting the M1 with those short trips.”

“Our council chambers should be part of the heart of Southport. Not a Taj Mahal but a civic meeting place with space for outdoor gatherings.

“There are 2500 council workers who could be redistributed over time from the Bundall office precinct to commercial office accommodation which is better served by public transport at Southport, Robina and Coomera.”